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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26270095">Mortal Temptations</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/NekoAisu/pseuds/dragonsong'>dragonsong (NekoAisu)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>FFXIVWrite 2020 [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Final Fantasy XIV</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Ambiguous Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers, Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Spoilers, Finger Sucking, Gender-Neutral Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Hand &amp; Finger Kink, Mild Angst, Mild Sexual Content, Oral Fixation, Other, Patch 5.0: Shadowbringers, Patch 5.0: Shadowbringers Spoilers, Pining, Wet Dream</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 05:28:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,272</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26270095</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/NekoAisu/pseuds/dragonsong</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The Crystal Exarch would rather not be another one of the Warrior’s inadvisable rock-like snacks.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>G'raha Tia | Crystal Exarch/Warrior of Light</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>FFXIVWrite 2020 [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1906210</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Mortal Temptations</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>For FFXIVWrite Day 2: Sway</p><p>Biiiiig thank you to Optee, Haru, Sophie, and all the lovely folks in the Creatives Guild for letting me write this ;w; 💕</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The Crystal Exarch knows better than to leave shiny objects and odd baubles lying around where the Warrior of Light can see them. He’s found them licking odd rocks and trying to eat glasslike moss on more than one occasion since their arrival on the First. As such, he takes care to put away any odds and ends that they may be tempted to put in their mouth. He does not expect to be one of the many stone-like things they try to bite, though. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He startles when their fingers wrap about his wrist, pulling his hand toward their face. There is all of a second between the action and when he feels a tongue and teeth against his fingers. He sputters, face turning a brilliant shade of red. “Wh─my Warrior, please! Are you quite well?!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They pause, blinking slowly, before looking at what they have in their grasp. “Oh,” they say, releasing him, “my apologies, Exarch.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s fine,” he manages to say, feeling quite the opposite. “Are you in need of a meal?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, but, uh… thanks. I didn’t mean to bite you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He smiles in what he hopes passes for a reassuring manner, replying, “No harm done. The kitchens are always open, should you have need of them.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They grin back at him, brilliant and guileless, and excuse themself to complete some inane fetch quest with a bounce to their step. He watches them leave with indulgence. Their cheer is not without burden. He had no way to guarantee their safety as a container for the Light. Even had they cursed him for dragging them to the First, maybe even tried to end him for the transgressions he committed against their friends, he would have accepted it without complaint. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>(But here they are! In the tower like they promised a young G’raha Tia they would after his return! It makes his heart soar as if he was still but a boy.)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He settles down to complete a quest of his own; namely, tackling the stack of old tomes piled haphazardly atop the Ocular’s newfound table. Each one is an account of the Warrior of Light’s exploits over the years. While he has no doubt about the validity of Heavensward or the accounts of major battles left behind by soldiers, he is still left wanting after reading through all of Stormblood and even supplementary stories collected from survivors. The timeline is odd and the pacing uneven, prompting him to worry that there is some major detail he has missed that could be the key to saving them from the same tragedy that befell them in his original world. He settles down and begins to read. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The first is all short excerpts and journal entries about serving under Ser Aymeric de Borel, an upstanding Ishgardian man whose collaboration with the Warrior of Light ushered in a new age for the isolated country. While he is more than familiar with the man from Count Edmont’s memoirs, he tries not to skim. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The second and third are accounts from Garlean conscripts whose battles against the Warrior of Light left them terrified and resentful of the empire that sent them to die. He wonders how it felt to be like them─left powerless against the might of a Champion of Light, facing down their might as one would death personified. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He cannot imagine it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The fourth threatens to put him to sleep and the fifth very nearly does, dry recordings of daily events that they prove to be. He does not need to hear that someone brushed their teeth three times within a bell. He really, truly doesn’t. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Warrior of Light returns just as he runs out of words to read. “I see you’ve returned. Welcome back,” he says warmly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They do not reply, striding to his side as if in a daze to grab his arm once again. Their fingers slide from his forearm toward the wrist, raising gooseflesh all along his spine. While his crystal is not so sensitive as his skin, it is not without </span>
  <em>
    <span>some </span>
  </em>
  <span>feeling (even if dulled considerably). The pressure of their palm against him, the gentle bite of nails against a golden vein—he can feel all of it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you ill,” he asks, peering at them with worry and curiosity, “or is this perhaps one of those odd debuffs you spoke of.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They look at him as if seeing </span>
  <em>
    <span>through </span>
  </em>
  <span>him, eyes fixed on someone who is no longer there, and say, “You look good.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Had he any fewer years pretending to be the Crystal Exarch, he may have let his mask slip. His ears twitch beneath his hood and he has to make a conscious effort to keep his tail tucked near to his legs and not shooting straight up like an overeager housecat. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Warrior of Light, his </span>
  <em>
    <span>inspiration, </span>
  </em>
  <span>saying that he looks good… why, it’s nearly enough to make him swoon. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’s so caught up in not revealing himself, mind stuck on loop over the sound of their voice, that he misses the shift of their grip until he finds his fingers pressing against their mouth. He sputters, moving to pull away, but finds himself thoroughly overpowered. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If you could release me,” he says, with no less panic than he feels before trailing off. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They look at him like they do prey and very pointedly part their lips to press one and then two of his fingers against their tongue. It’s unbelievable, incredible, </span>
  <em>
    <span>impossible—</span>
  </em>
  <span>there is no way they would allow this of him. Not even in his wildest, most misled dreams has he assumed himself desirable for their eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Warrior seems to have none of his hesitation, licking against the pad of his index finger as if to tease. He shudders at the press of it, warmth carrying into crystal and slowly warming him to something less cold and more mortal. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His shorts feel uncomfortably snug when they allow him a tentative wiggle, fingers making aborted movements before he begins to adjust to the anticipatory mortification floating about in his head. He can’t not </span>
  <em>
    <span>like</span>
  </em>
  <span> this. The little voice of G’raha Tia is screaming “coward” at him like he would have had the courage in the past (he didn’t) and complaining about his being too polite (he isn’t). </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s only when the Warrior drops to their knees, locking eyes with him, that he startles, arms flailing to keep them from debasing themself so and only succeeding in smacking his elbow into the floor and knocking over an entire pile of journals. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Ah, </span>
  </em>
  <span>he thinks, </span>
  <em>
    <span>I see.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>He scrubs a hand over his face and groans. His entire backside hurts from having slept on the same spot for well over a bell, the driest of accounts left open on his lap. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was right, they would never see him in that way. They did not when he was fully mortal—that spitfire Archon with odd eyes and odder hobbies—and they certainly would never feel that way now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The doors to the Ocular click and swing open. “Oh! Exarch, I thought you’d like this,” the Warrior of Light calls, nearly skipping to his side to present him with a parcel of swirled blue and red candy as if he does not reek of lust. “Reminded me of you!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you, my Warrior. I will treasure it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And if he spends too long staring at ribbons of brittle, blue sugar that evening, even Feo Ul has the decency not to comment on it. He has done his utmost not to be swayed by old wants, but he is still only a man.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Sometimes you gotta taste the rock candy granpa</p><p>Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/khirimochi">@khirimochi</a> OR <a href="https://twitter.com/TheHolyBody">@TheHolyBody (NSFW)</a><br/>Tunglr @<a href="https://kiriami.tumblr.com">Main</a> OR @<a href="https://ffxivimagines.tumblr.com">FFXIV Imagines</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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